Judgement Day for the NHS
So here's a second attempt at the same cartoon about the still-born young doctors initiative that Patricia Screwit has let slip through her bloody midwife fingers and splat on the floor.

Not know what I'm on about? Then click ere and prepare not to get seriously ill around August.

What's Up, Doc?
Patricia Hewitt survives a vote of no confidence, despite clinging for dear life onto a moribund NHS whilst being frantically grasped at by Junior Doctors.

For those of you interested in the prints below btw, my email is archburger@gmail.com.

Roll up, roll up, get your pop art 'ere
Limited edition canvases of the following pics, plus more on the way - ideal for bday presents, early christmas, forgotten father's day, barmitzvah or happy post-op celebrations.

All canvii are A2 and look spiffing.

A Visit to the Library - Part the Third

"No Fire Without Smoke"
part II.

See below for part I in this carcinogenic cartooning caboodle.

And whilst you're at, check out my spiffing page at The Crap Public Schools Association.

Your over-zealous public school education depends on it. It's the least you could do to celebrate a didactic decade of open access gym showers, estuary accents and biscuit games.

A visit to the library - part deux.
(see below for the start)

Welcome, Swines!
Public school greetings and a flick of a wet gym towel to new visitors to this page if you've been directed from the Crap Public Schools Association or anything else Swine-related. Scroll down and soak up the rich cartoony aromas.

To the rest of you hoi polloi, behold the first instalment of a strip based around the antics of the boys and teachers at Swinesend: Britain's Greatest Public School. If you're not familiar with it already, then QUICK! make haste to the link on the right and purchase a copy of the luxurious tome (illustrated by yours truly) forthwith. Failure to do so will spell detention and possibly one on one time with Mr Gropeworthy after school.

The Freelance Files 1: A visit to the library

The Jumble Strip
Not to be confused with the Rumble Strips. And so out of the primordial creative ooze a -barely- coherent narrative takes its first tentative steps.

This one's a mix of old-school reunion, job satisfaction and finding solace in the bottom of a pint glass.

Random Sketchings
Studies from some of my graphic novel heroes. A prize to those of you who can name them all.

It's been all a bit hectic of late what with moving flat, not having t'internet (hence the odd radio silence) and the relative meltdown of most GCSE/A-level students as exams draw nerve-bendingly closer and closer. So here's a brief selection of what I've been up to, plus the first of many sequences for a strip I'll be doing about the vagaries of freelance life in Laandaan.

Self Portrait, take 2.
A new take on the style I mentioned yesterday.Snazzy.

Pop Art-tastic
A happy marriage of cartoons, pop art and those zeitgeisty stencil canvases everyone's throwing on their walls these days: and even easier to recognise than my usual caricatures (i'd like to think).

Beware the Horns of Fury
Hoxton Bar n Grill faces a musical apocalypse on Weds 30th May - an invasion by the unique musical pioneers that are 'Danny Fontaine and the Horns of Fury'. Like Gogol Bordello, only more kletzmer.
Anyhoo, I did the poster to the left so keep an eye out for it around Laaandan innit.

Check out their myspace to hear for yerselves

A Family Affair
So I've broken into the lucrative bespoke caricature trade. All I need is a photo, a list of what your chosen giftee likes doing, and what the occasion is (bday, wedding, anniversary etc).

Here's a bday sample for an avid golfer and his famille.

Drop us a line if you'd like to order your own piece of individual burger art (tm).

Old Street, circa 6pm of a Friday.

The 6am follow-up will follow shortly...

There's nothing quite like drawing a cartoon of the Blair fan spinning inexorably into the future in the exact same week he announces his stepping down from power. Cue 'my part in his downfall' Milligan-esque mutterings.

If you'd like to put forward a new poop to hit the blairfan, send your fecund fecal-based foibles my way.

In other news, this is quite the most depressing clip I've seen for a while. It'd be funny if it was from Chris Morris's twisted mind. As opposed to being true.

Morir, page uno.
Here's the start of a graphic novel adaptation I'm working on of an obscure Catalan play called 'Morir' by Sergei Belbel. That's 'dying' in english translation. So nice and upbeat.

I'm also really into Hogarth at the moment after just catching the exhibition of his at Tate Britain (finishing today) which was awesome. Can't believe he was working on that stuff 300 years ago. I'll be posting up my homage to him forthwith so keep those mince pies peeled.

A 200 pounder with cheese.
A little mirthsome Friday pm fare for you all.

Not quite as mirthsome as the prospect of Bob Hoskins mouthing Jamie T's latest single, Sheila, in this music video, but getting there. The homeless man's 'buh' expression made me chuckle so watch out for that.

See you later, elevator
New Arctics album's out in but a matter o' days now and I can tell yuz that it's a belter. Their mooted departure into dub-electrocrunk was but a rumour, so naysayers beware. This here's dedicated to that black/yellow kill bill-esque colour scheme of the first single, 'Brianstorm'.

Part IV: Finally finished!
Full colour now, with blends and a few tweaks here and there.

Phew. I'm going for a lie-down.

Step 3 - Base Colour and Flesh Tones

Me plus one (scanner). Which is what today's image comes courtesy of.
Talkabout a learning curve. Also reminds me of the mindbogglingly good funk covers album that Mark Ronson's unleashed on the world this week, featuring a splendid horn turn on Kasabian's LSF. Listen to it on his myspace here. And tell im i sent yuh.

As for the latest stage of the tennis pic, keep those eyes peeled - it may surface later on tonight or in the wee hours of tomozo matin.

Step 2 - Inking.
Few minor alterations to the original sketch too, with pockets of black added to fill in the lines.

Can you guess what it is yet?

Oh and yet another Archburgerian creation hits amazon - my jacket for Penguin's new Alistair Cooke paperback is online - click here to see it

Grassgut!
Or at least that's what 'ey up' in Austrian sounded like to me.

Apologies for the radio silence, I'm now back from me hols and have a special treat for you - a behind the scenes peek at how i put my pics together. Firstly, step 1 - pencils.

Crisis? What crisis?
Like an eerie Iranian version of 'I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!', our team of plucky seamen have finally been handed back by the Iranian authorities.

Surely down to all those government press statements in which Mssrs Blair and Beckett cowed the kidnappers by expressing their 'concern', 'worry' and 'alarm'. Fighting talk indeed.

Anyone for Tennis?
The caricatured carnage continues in glorious technicolour. I've been inundated with answers to the previous entries, so don't be shy - post on my blog if you think you know who it is. Right answer wins a grand prize.

PLUS my book, SWINESEND - Britain's Greatest Public School was published yesterday! So get out there and take advantage of Amazon's mega 40% discount on it now!! Click here for the Amazon page. For every book bought, a poverty-stricken child in the third world is given a hamburger.

Shooting the Messenger
My take on Putin's efforts to keeping dissidents in line
in mother Russia.

And a second helping of dessert. The sandy saga concludes. With a little bit of je ne sais pour soi.

A snowman, a robot, and me. On a desert island. Sounds like a joke, dinnit?Not in this pseudo-philosophical existentialist romp.
Just don't get any sand in your trunks.

Green Gordy takes on the Chelsea Tractors.
"Two cartoons on the budget?!" I hear you cry. Least you're not being short-changed. Arf.

What with Weds' budget announcement, guessing the identity of this wee scottish raj shouldn't prove too taxing...

A sketch from the top deck
The perfect way to liven up an otherwise horrific commute into town on board a no.19 bus.

Another day, another caricature. Any guesses for today's contestant? He's not opposed to the odd bit of bashing (his word, not mine) to oil the cogs of democracy...

Answers on a hyper-inflated postcard.

Caricature Comp - Any guesses?

Answers on an e-card people...

Numero Uno from my new caricature series:
Kele Okereke from BLOC PARTY

A Forecast For the Future.
A little painting self-portrait for y'all to relish of me aged 60. Drink it up.

An Exercise in Style.
Who'd have thought getting from the bed to the front door was such an ordeal? Such was my Sunday.

Family Fortunes
A prospective strip to go with this article on the JC blog about nepotism and in-fighting within the Israeli Cabinet. Scroll down a bit - it's the Feb 16th posting called 'Family Tensions'.

A Financial Services Comic Mashup. (Bet that's the first time those words have ever been lumped together into the same sentence)

Inject humour and cotidian cartoon insight into a financial services website? They said it couldn't be done. They were wrong.

Tony Pan and Hamza Hook

Whilst turning everyone's favourite one-handed convicted hate-criminal into Captain Hook wasn't the most imaginative leap I've ever taken, I think little Tony works quite well as a diminutive little pixie manchild who refuses to grow old. Despite the onset of old grey hairs and crow's feet. Quite ironic for someone who's so obsessed with their legacy really.

With all the glamour, allure and intrigue of the latest Bond film's Casino Royale, Manchester has snatched the right to build a snarling uber-casino away from London's favourite eyesore, the Millennium Dome.

To mark the occasion, I hereby present a sloshed Jowell trying to stump up the ever-increasing (think it was 8 billion squid last check) bill for the 2012 Olympics.

On a gambling tip, I was also unlucky enough to catch Clive Owen's masterful performance in Croupier last night - the most craptacular piece of celluloid since Woody Allen's Match Point. Take Clive's trademark 1000mile stare, sprinkle in some tired cliches about life being a numbers game and add some heroically bad lines like:

-"I'm leaving you"
"That's why I love you...because you're a real man"

and you have only the first inkling of what can only be described as the jackpot of wannabe slick film noir derivative poop. Just as well he was pretty good in Children of Men really. You're better off gambling away your money than renting this turkey.

"Whassis? Two posts in the same day?!" I hear you cry. Yes indeedy. Like a shuffling octogenarian bewilderedly traversing the streamed traffic of the internet superhighway, I've chanced upon quite possible the best site in the world EVER - aside from my very own archburger.com, naturally - and feel the world would be a better place for sharing it.

Tis THE HYPE MACHINE and is a ridiculously amazing gizmo for checking out new bands on t'internet. Just whack the band's name into it and it'll pull out all the mp3 and video content on them that's out there. Gratis. Rejoice!

As a taster, check this here vid out from the magnificent Wagon Christ.
And here be some more pics o' mine for you too. Aren't i kind.

Oooh and lest I forget, a new strip of mine has been posted up at Slow London's site. It's in its very own Slow Toons section here.

39. The Book's Finally Finished!

Though it might look like a tiny online skip from the last posting to this here one, the gap betwixt the two has seen me finally finish the illustrations for that book I mentioned. Amidst a veritable tsunami of tea, pencil rubbings and inky fingers. The book's due out around the start of Summer so you can all mosey on down to the shops then (plug plug). Here are a few more examples to whet your appetites - more political/caricature/strip stuff is to follow shortly.

You'll also notice the whopping orange RSS icon which brings you a mere click away from getting my doodled spam every day via a feed. Deeeelicious. In other news, got my grubby mitts on the new Arcade Fire, Jamie T and Noisettes albums t'other day and they all kick 2006's offerings into the shade. Fave choons from the three are 'Keep the Car Running', 'Sheila' and 'Sister Rosetta (Capture the Spirit)'.

Plus I randomly stumbled across an awesome scandanavian punk rocking outfit (nope, not abba-styled sequined flares) called 'Love is All' who are defo worth a listen. Check em out here